Sunday, February 27, 2011

January Books

I didn't have the time to post last month's bookhaul so here they are in all their bound glory.

Two points of interest:

(a) Yes, I am pushing through with my John Le Carre phase.

(b) Interesting enough, of the ten books I have here, only two are brand-new, which is the price of having a too-small salary.

1. Drood, Dan Simmon

2. The Gone-away World, Nick Harkaway3. Gears of the City, Felix Gilman (a lucky find, the sequel to his The Thunderer)4. A Most Wanted Man, John Le Carre (with this copy, am wondering if I should collect HB)5. The Man on the Ceiling, Steve Rasnic Tem and Melanie Tem6. Battle Royale,Koushun Takami (finally decided to try to the book instead of the manga)7. The Wooden Sea, Jonathan Carroll (time to give Carroll another chance)8. The Spider's Kiss, Debbie Gallagher (prose looks blah but will give it a shot)9. Snow, Orham Pamuk (finding a 2nd-hand Pamuk is always a good thing)10. A Darkness Forged in Fire, Chris Evans11. The Mission Song, John Le Carre

4 comments:

The best introduction to Carroll is still The Land Of Laughs, but I also found Bones Of The Moon most satisfying and Kissing The Beehive shows that he can work magic without actually invoking it. The Wooden Sea, tbh, felt a bit WTF-ish at the end, even though it has great moments.

i found land of laughs okay but i really couldn't get into white apples. it was like all of a sudden i became allergic to his writing, which was weird. hopefully i can ease myself back again into his stuff. (though i would really love to get his only short story collection but alas, that's nowhere to be seen.)

Dies: Words

Quotes

The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing. One cannot help but be in awe when he contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvelous structure of reality. It is enough if one tries merely to comprehend a little of this mystery every day. Never lose a holy curiosity. ALBERT EINSTEIN

I am still shocked that so many people are not more creative, by which I mean more demanding of themselves. The main question we need to ask ourselves is: Do I try to be necessary to the evolution of language? Do I try to be original? And being original means using the tools necessary to be original, not just having the desire to be original. PIERRE BOULEZ

Men fear thought as they fear nothing else on earth -- more than ruin -- more even than death....Thought is subversive and revolutionary, destructive and terrible, thought is merciless to privilege, established institutions, and comfortable habit. Thought looks into the pit of hell and is not afraid. BERTRAND RUSSELL

I think we ought to read only the kind of books that wound and stab us... We need the books that affect us like a disaster, that grieve us deeply, like the death of someone we loved more than ourselves, like being banished into forests far from everyone, like a suicide. A book must be the axe for the frozen sea inside us. FRANZ KAFKA

Obviously, then, I think a good critic in any field is a useful citizen, who is positively obliged to be harsh toward bad work. By a good critic, I mean a man with a good ear, a love for his field at best, and a broad and detailed knowledge of the techniques of the field. JAMES BLISH